Birds
by Fannon Cannon
Summary: A short story of how the Medic found his beloved dove.
1. Chapter 1

Archimedes was a dove, and as a respectable dove he had a very respectable position in wedding dovery. It was a very lovely trade, full of love and joy, as all the doves that had the honour that Archimedes had, for he had heard of doves who had lesser careers that weren't so full of love. Archimedes had just reached his one-hundredth wedding and, while it was certainly a lovely ceremony, the little white dove was feeling down. For all the wonderful couples that Archimedes would fly over with his other little dove friends, there was just something in the little bird's small head.

Archimedes couldn't figure out what it was. For a dove, there wasn't a lot he had to aspire to. He and all the other doves would fly high in the sky without a care in the world to the envy of the humans down below, but somehow Archimedes had grown quite tired of an action he found as natural as breathing, and there was always a human that would take him out of the sky and put him in a cage with all the other doves. There they would all sleep peacefully but Archimedes found it hard to rest, as his little mind was rife with restlessness, as he could not figure out what was missing.

Archimedes once saw a fish. It was in a lake the dove once got to visit, and the sight of it filled the doves mind with wonder. He couldn't understand how something as little as he could move about just as freely as he surrounded by immense water and without wings. The little dove grew envious of the creatures that lived in the ocean, and wished inside that he could swim, to move unconstrained as he would in the air.

Archimedes found himself awaiting for the time when he would be released again but considering the nature of today, he managed to put aside his troubles for the Prime Ministers wedding, he wouldn't want to embarrass himself in front of his dove friends. So, once again he and his little pals took to the skies over another happy couple, but Archimedes simply couldn't find it in his little heart to care, and in his carelessness he found himself flying further away from the scene, unnoticed by everyone. For some strange reason the little bird could smell something in the air, something he had never smelt before, but it was a warm friendly smell and reminded him of the smell of the sea.

Archimedes found the scent carrying him further and further away until he found himself in sight of the wedding catering van. By now the smell was driving him mad with curiosity. Driven by the urge, he managed to squirm his way into the interior, and there he found the source of the smell. It was the chief chef of the wedding, not that Archimedes knew that, lying on his back on a makeshift table inside the cramped van with his chest cut completely open, a grand display inside that was giving off the powerful scent that Archimedes could now smell in full and, without thinking he flew straight into the assortment of organs, disregarding the unconscious chef who seemed to be holding onto live via a complex series of technology spread around him.

Archimedes found himself quite overcome at first, the intense red he was witnessing was making him dizzy, but then he started enjoying it, finding it quite refreshing and was reminded of the fish he saw, suddenly finding a newfound joy in this activity. But before he could properly enjoy it, he felt activity above him, and his surroundings became tight. He thought he had better get out of there, and that he did, shooting up feeling the fresh air.

Archimedes then became better acquainted with surroundings. The chef was suddenly staring at him with the widest look of bewilderment on his face, and another man wearing a lab uniform and also looking at him with wonder and suspicion. The little dove looked about without paying heed to what the two men must have been thinking, before the one in the lab coat spoke:

"Well, where did you come from, little bird?" He asked as if expecting an answer from the bird.

Archimedes looked at him with curiosity, feeling fairly comfortable with the man in front of him but also feeling a little sticky from the red that splattered his formerly white coat. But before the man in the lab coat could question him further, the chef started screaming at the top of his exposed lungs.

"Aghh, this won't help you, idiot!" The man in the lab coat said to the chef, ignoring Archimedes and took to busying himself before his cries drew attention. After a little while the chef suddenly slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Now, little bird, you'd best get out of there." He told Archimedes, before taking him in his hand, handling him with care and attempting to shoo him out of the van.

Archimedes, however was reluctant to leave the man in the lab coat, a strange excitement forming in his little form and he tried to remain inside the van. The man in the lab coat finally relented and placed him next to the drivers seat before attending to the chef, turning the dove away. When Archimedes could finally get a glance at the chief, there was a bright red light about him and the wide open wound was no longer in sight.

Archimedes was overcome with a sudden sadness. A feeling he got, was shared by his new owner, who then pushed the chef on the table out of the van letting him off with:

"Auf wiedersehen... dummkopf!"

Archimedes then noted the man climbing back into the van, sitting on the driver's seat, turning on the engine and driving off with his new pet.

"Well, then little bird. Have you a name?" The man asked him.

Archimedes looked at his new owner with a quizzical look in his bird eyes. The man in the lab coat chuckled to himself before saying:

"I am the Medic." He announced with a hint of pride in his voice. "Maybe you are a… Cicero." He asked.

Archimedes gave a coo, visibly irritated with the Medic.

"Oh ok." The Medic said taken aback. "How about… Euclid."

Another snappy coo.

"Plato?" The Medic asked again.

Another from the little dove.

"Aristotle?"

Yet again, another touchy coo, but with a touch of optimism.

"Archimedes." The Medic said again.

The little dove suddenly gave a cheerful coo, and flew about the Medic's head, who was reminded of the road and the speed of the van. Finally, Archimedes settled down on the Medic's shoulder who spoke to his new companion.

"Well then Archimedes." He said as the van rolled on into the German countryside.

"Let's go practice medicine."


	2. Chapter 2

******Just thought I'd add a little something to this, as a response to a few favourites and follows. So this is for you I guess.**

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"And when the doctor woke up, his patient was missing, and the skeleton was never heard from again!" The Medic finished his tale with a hearty laugh, which was only short of shared his patient, the squat Engineer, who was finding it hard to laugh properly when hid entire chest lay open, exposing all his little organs to the chill of the sterile operation room.

"Anyway..." The Medic's mind returned to his work. "Thats how I lost my meditation license."

"Doc, you've lost quite a lot of those licenses." The Engineer mused, as he knew all too well what the Medic was like at losing things.

"Ah well, can't be helped, can't be helped." The Doctor dismissed what he thought was a cause for concern on the Engineer's part. "Its not like a little thing like a license is going to stop me from preforming medicine. "

The Engineer now had reason for concern, for unlike his doctor friend, he had never lost his license to preform his engineering duties, as he liked to keep everything nice and orderly. But he soon realised that it was unlikely that the Medic was in any position to do him any harm, even if it was unintentional, for the Medic was an accomplished surgeon, and there was no such instance of him botching up an operation on his fellow teammates... That the Engineer had heard of.

"Speaking of which." He continued. "Have you seen my scalpel. I must have dropped it in here when I was cutting and now I can't seem to find it."

The Engineer was not at all too fond of the thought of something sharp being lost inside his bloody assortment of organs. But soon, he had bigger concerns to worry about, for at that moment, he could feel something stirring within his chest, and to his shock and surprise, a little dove sprang out of his wound, it's white coat was almost indistinguishable beneath the dark red that plastered it.

"Ah, there you are Archimedes!" The Medic exclaimed with delight that was not at all shared by the Engineer. "I can't seem to take my eye of you for one second without you burrowing into a patient."

The little dove nestled in the assortment of organs turned to face its owner, and the Engineer could swear it cooed a coo of affection.

"And you found my scalpel." The Medic noted the small blood stained instrument clutched within the bird's beak. But before he could reach to grab it, the little dove suddenly took off, flying high up into the room, out of reach.

"Excuse me." The Medic said to the Engineer before abandoning him on the table to face his bird. "Archimedes, you give that back right this instant."

Archimedes did not heed him, instead perching himself on a beam out of reach of the Medic, still clutching the scalpel in his beak.

"Archimedes." The Medic proclaimed in an authoritative tone. "If you don't give that back right now, there will be no ubercharge seeds later."

The little dove turned his little dove head in an curious glance at the Medic. Archimedes did so enjoy those ubercharge seeds the Medic would treat him with when he was being good, and after some hesitation, he opened his beak and the scalpel fell.

But before it could drop into the Medic's waiting hand, another white dove suddenly flew in, and snatched the scalpel right out it's free fall.

"Euclid!" The Medic snapped impatiently. "Stop messing about and give me that right this instance."

Archimedes fellow dove Euclid did not heed him, which forced the Medic to walk right over to him to remove the scalpel by force. Yet before he could do that, Euclid swung his little head and the scalpel shot straight out of his beak across the room where yet another dove caught it, before subsequently diving straight into the inviting chest of the Engineer, who had been watching the whole ordeal with some alarm.

"Not you too Aristotle." The Medic said wearily striding up to the Engineer. "A thousand apologies, Herr Conagher."

And with that, the Medic took one hand and reached into the waiting gap, causing the Engineer no end of discomfort as he felt everything within his chest start to wiggle and squirm from all the commotion.

"Come on, where are you, you little Vogel." The Medic muttered to himself as his hand navigated the bloody innards of the Engineer's chest. "Ah, there you are!"

His hand retracted, and the Engineer could see it's dark red form emerge, clutching the equally dark red dove, who still had the scalpel within it's beak. Removing the medical instrument firmly, the Medic let loose his hand, and Aristotle flew up high in the air to join Euclid and Archimedes, who were cooing cheekily.

"Now then, where was I?" The Medic asked himself carelessly, before he finally returned his attention to the Engineer, who had gone very white by this stage.

The Engineer felt immense relief to finally have a full chest to himself once again. It took him a moment to properly get his head on straight, finding the ordeal quite fatiguing, but soon he opened the double doors to the operation room, where the rest of his team awaited him, all with bored looks.

"Ah fellas!" He exclaimed, causing them all to jump up in response to the activity. "You can not imagine... the pain this is causing me."

Suddenly, from within the depths of his chest went a coo, as if responding to his statement, causing the Engineer alarm yet again.

"Archimedes?" The Medic called back from the operation room.

The coo went again in response, but suddenly another sprang up, as if a different entity was attempting to communicate through the flesh.

"Aristotle...?"

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** Okay I think this is the end for good this time. I've got something special in mind for TF2 Fanfiction, something very big and long.**


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